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Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

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Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
Late Night intertitle.
Created byJimmy Fallon
Written byA. D. Miles (head writer)
Presented byJimmy Fallon
StarringThe Roots
Narrated bySteve Higgins
Opening theme"Here I Come", The Roots
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes336 (as of October 29, 2010) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producersLorne Michaels
Michael Shoemaker
ProducerGavin Purcell
Production locationsStudio 6B in 30 Rockefeller Center
New York City
Running time59 min. (with commercials)
Original release
NetworkNBC
ReleaseMarch 2, 2009 –
present
Jimmy Fallon in January 2008

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jimmy Fallon on NBC. The show premiered on March 2, 2009, as the third incarnation of the Late Night franchise originated by David Letterman.

The program airs weeknights at 12:35am Eastern/11:35pm Central in the United States.[1] Former host Conan O'Brien departed on February 20, 2009 to begin preparations for The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.

Format

The show begins with the opening sequence as Steve Higgins announces that night's guests and "the legendary Roots crew". Just before Higgins introduces Fallon, the camera cuts to a shot of The Roots, who then shout three numbers symbolizing the episode number of Late Night (though other numbers and statements have been shouted in place based on current events, historical show moments and telephone area codes). Higgins then introduces Fallon, who begins his nightly monologue. Fallon often gives the cue cards for a joke to audience members if the joke falls particularly flat. Fallon's monologue is usually short, followed by a brief comedy sketch, or alternatively, going over the night's guest and conversing with Higgins or members of The Roots.

After the show's first break, it returns and begins a comedy sketch. One night of the week is reserved for a TV parody (For example, Thursdays from February–May 2010 featured "Late", a parody of Lost). Fridays are also reserved for Fallon to write "Thank You" notes to figures that have given him material for the past week. He also typically has the entire crew of the show write letters home. Occasionally the show features extra skits such as "Wheel of Carpet Samples", "Cell Phone Shootout", "Lick it for Ten", "Let Us Play with Your Look", "Pros and Cons" or "Hot Dog in a Hole".

After the sketch ends and a commercial break follows, the first guest will arrive. That guest will most often stay after the next break, and a second guest will enter after the show's fourth break. Once these interviews have been completed and the show has taken its fifth and final commercial break, the musical guest (or sometimes, a chef or comedian) will perform. Jimmy Fallon will return once the musical guest has finished and bid the viewers farewell. As credits roll, Fallon runs up and down the stairs of the studio giving high fives to the audience before exiting backstage.

History

Executive producer Lorne Michaels said he wanted Fallon to be the new host dating back to the day that Fallon left Saturday Night Live in 2004,[2] which occurred only a few months before O'Brien's departure was announced.[3] According to Michaels:[2]

Jimmy's built for this kind of show. He's funny, he's charming, he's got a really good way of connecting with people. And he knows music, movies and TV really well, which is the backbone of these shows.

During the years between Fallon's SNL departure and the announcement that he would take over Late Night, Fallon concentrated on developing a feature film career, which Fallon himself said "really didn't work out that great."[2]

Fallon was announced as O'Brien's replacement in May 2008; at the time of the announcement, he was scheduled to debut in June 2009.[4] To help him prepare for his new Late Night host role, Michaels had Fallon perform stand-up comedy in clubs and create a series of webisodes.[2] A behind-the-scenes vlog documenting preparations for the new show launched on December 8, 2008, with new episodes being posted weeknights at 12:30 a.m. ET.[citation needed]

On January 8, 2010, Fallon announced that the show would be bumped to a 1:05am start time, with the move of The Jay Leno Show to 11:35pm and subsequent bump of The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien to 12:05am start.[5] This proved to be false, as O'Brien refused the change, citing a reluctance to infringe upon Late Night, and saying it would be "unfair to Jimmy." [6] Conan left The Tonight Show on January 22, 2010. Jay Leno returned to the Tonight title on March 1.

Notable episodes

  • On August 14, 2009, Late Night aired its 100th episode with guests Tracy Morgan & Neal Brennan.
  • On January 22, 2010, Late Night began with a cold open (a rare occurrence for the show) with Fallon and The Roots visiting Studio 6A, the former home of Late Night with Conan O'Brien. They sang "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" as a tribute song to O'Brien, whose final episode as host of The Tonight Show had just concluded. When introducing the show, Roots drummer Questlove placed a placard of O'Brien over his face.
  • On March 2, 2010, Late Night celebrated its first year anniversary with guests Robert Pattinson, Judah Friedlander, & Mario Batali.
  • On March 3, 2010, Late Night aired its 200th episode with guests Barbara Walters, Regina King, and Erykah Badu.
  • On March 4, 2010, Jimmy reunited the cast of California Dreams.
  • On March 9, 2010, Jimmy, during a martini race with Chelsea Handler, slipped and fell down on stage, dropping three martini glasses, cutting his hand. After a commercial break, Jimmy was seated at his desk, with a bandage around the cut hand. The next day, The Roots performed the show with bandages on (Questlove shouted "Ow, ow, ow" instead of the episode number 205).
  • On March 16, 2010, Jimmy had the Bee Gees, Barry and Robin Gibb, on as guests; they spoke of his Coletânia Mythology and sang "Nights on Broadway" along with Jimmy acapella.
  • On May 10–14, 2010, Late Night held "Rolling Stones Week", celebrating the 2010 re-issue of Exile on Main St.. The final show of the week broadcast the worldwide premiere of The Rolling Stones documentary, Stones in Exile.
  • On May 24–28, 2010, Late Night held "Watch Jimmy with Jimmy Week", in which Jimmy watched the show at 12:35am Eastern/11:35pm Central with the audience. While he was watching, he was on Ustream live video streaming on the Internet, talking with fans, and giving them a behind-the-scenes look at what happens at Late Night.
  • On June 21–25, 2010, Late Night held "Video Game Week", a week featuring looks at and demos of new video games coming out in the coming months.
  • On September 1, 2010, Late Night aired its 300th episode with guests Anna Wintour, Marc Jacobs, John Cena, & Yo Gabba Gabba.
  • On September 13–17, 2010, Late Night held "Broadway Week", a week featuring the stars and shows that are currently working on Broadway. Some of the special guests included Sean Hayes, and Patti LuPone.
  • On October 11–15, 2010, Late Night held "Jackass Week", a week featuring the stars of the movie Jackass 3D. Some of the special guests included Johnny Knoxville, Ehren McGhehey, Steve O, and Bam Margera.

Production

The program originates from NBC Studio 6B in the GE Building at 30 Rockefeller Center in New York City, the original home of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, which was not the studio from which Late Night had been broadcast since 1982, but which had housed the WNBC news studios since Carson had moved his show to Burbank, California, in 1972.[7] Fallon's house band is hip-hop band The Roots,[7] and his announcer is Steve Higgins, a producer for Saturday Night Live.[8] The show is produced by Lorne Michaels' Broadway Video in association with NBC's Universal Media Studios.

Fallon premiered on March 2, 2009, with Robert De Niro, Justin Timberlake and Van Morrison appearing as his guests. Former Late Night host Conan O'Brien also made a cameo appearance in the beginning.[9]

Sexual discrimination accusation

On July 28, 2010, former stage manager Paul Tarascio accused Jimmy Fallon and the producers of Late Night of sexually discriminating against him. Tarascio alleged he was demoted and then lost his job to what he describes as a "less qualified"[10] woman because, "Jimmy just prefers to take direction from a woman."[11] Following the demotion, Tarascio continued to protest the change, including complaints directed to his union representative, and was subsequently fired based on a list of job failures provided by NBC.[10]

An NBC spokesman said that claims of sexual discrimination were "without merit".[10]

Reception

Debut episode

The debut episode received negative reviews across the board and was considered to have "arrived needing plenty of work".[12] In particular Critics noted Jimmy Fallon's nervousness and profuse sweating as well as awkward comedy pieces like "Lick it for 10"[12] However, interaction with the show's house band, The Roots, was applauded and it was noted that "a bit in which Fallon sang a "slow jam" version of the news succeeded, in large part, thanks to Roots' typically taut playing and singer Tariq 'Black Thought' Trotter's impeccable voice and surprisingly good comic timing".[13] The LA times commented that "the late-night role seems on the face of it a good fit" for Jimmy Fallon and that "this is a form that develops in the fullness of time, as chances are taken and limits tested and you learn the things you can learn only in the doing, night after night".[14] The series as whole so far has scored a 49/100 on Metacritic, and viewers scoring it at a 4.0/10.[15]

Ratings

Despite cautious reviews, the show was a ratings favorite during its premiere week. The show outperformed its main competitor, CBS's The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, by half a million viewers. Fallon also managed a higher viewer total than his predecessor, Conan O'Brien. Fallon's total viewer count was 21% higher than Conan O'Brien's 1,991,000 Late Night average this season.[16] Fallon maintained his lead over Ferguson until the night of March 16 when The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson attracted a larger audience (1.47 vs. 1.27 million viewers).[17]

For the week July 27-July 31, 2009, Late Night was the ratings leader with a 17 percent lead in adults 18-49 and a 42 percent lead with adults 18-34. Since the show aired on March 2, Fallon has ranked number one or tied Ferguson in these demographics on 97/100 nights.[18]

After Jay Leno returned to The Tonight Show, in total viewers Late Night (2.0 million viewers overall) out-delivered Late Late Show (1.7 million) by a margin of 17 percent the entire first week.[19]

As of the May 2010 sweeps, Late Night has a higher rating, a roughly equal share, but fewer average viewers, than The Late Late Show. The two are tied in the demographic of adults age 18 to 49, with Late Night having a slightly higher share.[20]

International

  • Late Night originally aired in Australia on The Comedy Channel along with The Tonight Show, however both were dropped following Leno's reinstatement citing a decline in viewership.
  • In the Middle East, Late Night airs on OSN Comedy Channel, part of the Orbit Showtime Network.

See also

References

  1. ^ About page from the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon official website
  2. ^ a b c d Farhi, Paul (March 1, 2009 [sic]). "Ready or Not, Here Comes Jimmy Fallon To Update Late Night". Washington Post. Retrieved 2009-02-28. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  3. ^ O'Brien to succeed Leno as 'Tonight' host in '09, a September 2004 article from The Hollywood Reporter
  4. ^ "Jimmy Fallon Headed to NBC Late Night". TVWeek.com. May 12, 2008. Retrieved 2009-02-28.
  5. ^ Gawker Media blog post: "Conan O'Brien Slams NBC, Mocks Jay Leno on The Tonight Show"
  6. ^ New York Times article: "Conan O’Brien Says He Won’t Host ‘Tonight Show’ After Leno".
  7. ^ a b December 8, 2008 from the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon video blog
  8. ^ December 11, 2008 from the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon video blog
  9. ^ "Robert De Niro is Jimmy Fallon's first guest". The Hollywood Reporter. Associated Press. February 19, 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-28. [dead link]
  10. ^ a b c Gardner, Eriq (2010-07-29). "Jimmy Fallon show hit with sex discrimination claim". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
  11. ^ Hyman, Vicki (July 28, 2010). "Jimmy Fallon accused of sexual discrimination by former stage manager". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved 29 July 2010.
  12. ^ a b Debut episode review of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon from The Washington Post
  13. ^ March 3, 2009 Review of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon from The Chicago Tribune
  14. ^ March 3, 2009 Review of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon from Los Angeles Times
  15. ^ http://www.metacritic.com/tv/shows/latenightwithjimmyfallon
  16. ^ March 13, 2009 Review of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon from The Huffington Post
  17. ^ "Late Night Ratings: Craig Ferguson Tops Jimmy Fallon - 2009-03-17 16:40:53 | Broadcasting & Cable". Broadcastingcable.com. Retrieved 2009-10-11.
  18. ^ "Conan O'Brien Wins The July 20–24 Week In 18-49 Over All Cable And Broadcast Competition - TV Ratings, Nielsen Ratings, Television Show Ratings". TVbytheNumbers.com. 2009-07-30. Retrieved 2009-10-11.
  19. ^ NBC’s late night team: ‘Leno’ and “Fallon’ defeated all for week March 1-5
  20. ^ ‘The Tonight Show With Jay Leno’ & ‘Late Night With Jimmy Fallon’ Deliver May Sweep Wins Over all Cable And Broadcast Competition. NBC press release (2010-06-04) via tvbythenumbers.com. Retrieved 2010-06-15.
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